AREA SAILOR ON MISSING SUBMARINE. 

 

 

On September 14, 1944 in the Pottsville Republican under the Headline

3 REGIONAL BOYS MISSING,ONE ON SUB.

The article stated a Summit Hill Boy was a radioman on the submarine Gudgeon, loss of which was officially announced by the Navy department Tuesday, His family had been notified some months ago that he was missing but were asked not to reveal the news until official word of the submarine's loss was announced.

William D Remaley, 21 son of Mr. And Mrs Harvey Reamley summit Hill, was a radio man 1st class on the submarine, Gudgeon reported missing and overdue and is presumed lost by the Navy Department.

Remaley was 21 yrs old, he enlisted on December 6, 1940 and was was sworn in on January 7, 1941.

 

 

 USS Gudgeon

USS Gudgeon (SS-211), a Tambor-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the gudgeon. Her keel was laid down by the Mare Island Navy Yard. She was launched on 25 January 1941, sponsored by Mrs. Annie B. Pye, wife of Vice Admiral William S. Pye, Commander Battleships, Battle Force and Commander Battle Force. The boat was commissioned on 21 April 1941 with Lieutenant Commander Elton W. "Joe" Grenfell in command. Her construction cost $6 million
The USS Gudgeon (SS-211) was a Gar-class World War II era submarine. The Gar-class boats were duplicates of the Tambor-class design. 1
The namesake of the USS Gudgeon (species Gobio gobio) is a common small fish of the carp family, Cyprinidae, found in clear, fresh waters of Europe and northern Asia. A grayish or greenish fish, the gudgeon has a barbel at each corner of its mouth and a row of blackish spots along each side. Rarely exceeding a length of twenty centimeters (eight inches), it lives in schools and feeds mainly on small animals. It is edible and is used as fish bait.
The radio call sign of the USS Gudgeon was NAN-EASY-LOVE-VICTOR.
On April 4, 1944, the Gudgeon, captained by Lieutenant Commander Robert A. Bonin, left Pearl Harbor for her twelfth and final war patrol. On April 7, 1944, she topped off her fuel at Johnston Island, then left for patrol in the open sea area off the northern Mariana Islands. She was never seen or heard from again. 2
The Gudgeon's operating order instructed her to patrol within the rectangle formed by coordinates 21° N to 24° N and 143° E to 147° E from April 16-22, 1944. After April 22nd, she would patrol within the square formed by coordinates 17° N to 21° N and 143° E to 147° E. On May 11, 1944, the Gudgeon was ordered to conduct a special assignment in another area. The Gudgeon did not acknowledge receipt of this transmission. On May 14, 1944, her special assignment was given to another submarine. Another transmission was sent to the Gudgeon ordering her to return to Midway Island. She was expected there around May 23, 1944. On June 7, 1944, the Gudgeon was declared overdue and presumed lost. 3
The public announcement of Gudgeon's loss was made on September 12, 1944:

Navy Department Communiqué No. 542, September 12, 1944
1. The submarine USS Gudgeon is overdue from patrol and presumed lost.
2. Next of kin of casualties have been informed.

Loss Possibilities
There are several loss possibilities for the Gudgeon.
1. The Gudgeon was probably lost on April 18, 1944 after being bombed by Japanese naval aircraft of the 901st Air Group about 166 miles southeast of Iwo Jima. The Japanese report stated the planes dropped two bombs on a submarine and "The first bomb hit a bow, the second bomb direct on bridge. The center of the submarine burst open and oil pillars rose." The submarine was reported to have sunk quickly followed by a large undersea explosion. The reported location of the attack (22° 45' N, 143° 40' E) was within the Gudgeon's assigned patrol area. 4
2. The second possibility is a depth charge and bomb attack by unidentified IJN antisubmarine (ASW) surface vessels and possibly aircraft, on May 12, 1944, off Saipan. Three other American submarines patrolling off Saipan heard and reported this heavy ASW activity, which occurred about 140 miles south of the Gudgeon's second patrol area. This could have been an attack against a false contact by alert and aggressive Japanese ASW surface vessels and aircraft. 5
3. Loss as a result of an unreported enemy attack is also a possibility. This general area was a hotbed of activity during this period. There were numerous U.S. submarines and enemy ASW forces operating the area. 6
For her first eight war patrols the Gudgeon received the coveted Presidential Unit Citation. She earned eleven battle stars for her World War II service. She was the first U.S. Navy submarine to sink an enemy warship in World War II - the Japanese submarine I-73. She was scored by JANAC with sinking 71,047 tons in twelve Japanese vessels. Her Alden-McDonald score is seventeen vessels sunk for 81,150 tons and eight vessels damaged for 33,997 tons. Her SORG score is twenty-four vessels sunk worth 166,400 tons and six vessels damaged worth 41,900 tons. 7
The Gudgeon is also remembered for being the first American submarine to make a Spyron mission from Australia to the Philippines in World War II. On December 27, 1942, captained by Lieutenant Commander William S. Stovall, the Gudgeon embarked Major Jesus Villamor, six other Filipinos, and a ton of supplies including weapons, a radio, money, medicines, candy, and cigarettes, and departed Brisbane for the Philippines. On the night of January 14, 1943, the Gudgeon put the men and supplies safely ashore on Negros Island. On her return trip to Fremantle, on February 9, 1943, the Gudgeon rescued twenty-one Australians, one Englishman, one Portuguese, and five Timorese from enemy-occupied Timor. 8


The Photos below are from a World War 11 Submarine USS Lionfish that is a museum in Fall River, Mass.
These photos will give a good idea of what it was like in a WW2 American Submarine.



HOW IT FEELS TO KILL A MAN IN BATTLE

How it feels to kill a man in battle.

 

This is an interesting statement by a Civil War soldier, on how it feels to kill a man in battle.

Miners Journal February 1892:

A conscientious soldiers description of the horrors of battle.

They do not call it murder when men meet to slaughter each other in battle. They simply report so many dead, wounded and missing. When you fire into the smoke concealing you other battle lines, you fire in the hopes to kill or wound. It is your duty. Battles cannot be one without killing, and the result of battles changes the whole system of governments. You load and fire load and fire moved to the right or left advance or retreat and when the battle is over you may have fired 50 rounds, and yet you have not had a near site of the enemy. You have simply fired at him, and you cannot vouch that a single one of your bullets has found a living target.

 

Here is a brigade of us in battle line across an old meadow: our right and left joining other brigades. We have thrown down the rail fences gathered logs and brush and sod and erected a breastwork. It is only a slight one, but enough to do shelter bias while lying down. A division of the enemy breaks over cover half a mile away and comes marching down upon us. The field pieces behind us open on their solid columns but they are not checked. Under the smoke we can see the work of the shells but they cannot halt  that mass of men. The grape and canister does awful execution, but there should be a dozen guns behind us instead of six.

 

They are going to charges. The guns cannot prevent that. Orders run along the line and we are waiting until every bullet, no matter if fired a soldier with his eyes shut, must hit a foe. I select my man while he is yet beyond range. I have eyes for no other. He is a tall, soldierly fellow wearing the stripes of a Sgt. And he comes nearer I imagine that he is looking as fixedly at me as I am at him. I admire his coolness, he looks neither to the right nor to the left. The man on his right is hit and goes down, but he does not falter.

 

I am going to kill that man! I have a rest for my gun on the breastwork, and when the order comes to fire I cannot miss him. He is living his last-minute on earth! We are calmly waiting until our folly shall prove a veritable flame of death. Now they close up the gaps and we can hear the shouts of their officers as they make ready to charge. My man is still opposite me. He still seems to be looking at me and no one else. I know the word is coming in a few seconds more, and  I aim at his chest.

 

I could almost be sure of hitting him with a stone when we get the word fire. There is a billow of flame, a billow of smoke, and a fierce crash, and 4000 bullets are fired into that compact mass of advancing men. Not one volley alone, though that worked horrible destruction, but another and another until there was no longer a living man to fire at.

 

The smoke drifts slowly away, men cheer and yell, we can see the meadow before us heaped with dead and dying men. We advance our line. As we’re going forward I look for my victim. He is lying on his back, eyes half shut and fingers clutching at the grass. He gasps draws up his legs and straightens them out again and again and is dead as I pass them on. I have killed my man!

 

My bullet alone struck him, tearing that ghastly wound in his breast, and I am entitled to all the honor. Do I swing my And cheer? Do I point him out and expect to be congratulated? No! I have no cheers. I feel no elation. I feel that I murdered him, war or no war, and that his agonized face will haunt me through all the years of my life.

 

 

 

A POTTSVILLE. BLUEJACKET ON THE USS HELENA A GUNBOAT IN CHINA.

Thanksgiving Day In The Faraway Orient.

 

 THE CREW 1901

U.S.S. HELENA.

Paul Weston, who was aboard you. S. S. Helena, which is doing service in the Chinese warriors, in a letter to his father describes a Thanksgiving day celebration in the Orient according to Occidental customs, however notwithstanding, the great American bird and its side dishes were not  included  in the menu.

U S. S. Helena, Cheefoo, china. November 28, 1901.

Dear father: today is Thanksgiving day and, of course the jacks had their usuals read but this thread could have been a great deal better had the ship not rolled. This was to be the bill of fare: salt horse spuds, peas, beans, fresh bread fruit pies and crust.  But this was the fare, salt horse, spuds, peas, beans and fresh bread.On account of the quarantine we could not get chickens or fruit. We were on the Lee of the rock on which the ninth house stands this was just outside the harbor. Last night while the cooks made cakes and pies we were to have custard. It was the kind where you bake the crust first and then pour in the goo on top, white of egg czar smeared like froth, the cakes were smeared with molasses and place nicely on top of the lockers, and the pie crusts were on top of t lockers in the pie crusts were on top of the chest

this morning about 7 o’clock, we got under way and move farther into the harbor. The cooks had the eggs in the corn starch already to mix just as we came up abeam  of the Chinese battleship, we gave a Dozen lists which capsized everything the cakes were smashed and rolled around the deck and were spoiled the pie crusts were also smashed and soaked with saltwater all the eggs on the ship were broken in the packages of cornstarch were busted. Open and spilled about the deck You can imagine how we rolled when the Chinese flagship and French battleship saw us they lowered their lifeboats and were coming to us to save a few of us they could. They thought she was going to capsized, is a great part of the bottom and one propeller were clean out of the water. She’s a fine ship at sea I often wonder if the well since I’m in the Navy I’m compelled to call him a gentleman but I think to myself he’s a well I’m not allowed to think either, that sent a certain ship, name the Helena built for no other purpose than to go up rivers, to sea , ever went to see him her if he hasn’t, I hope you’ll go to see in this pork barrel. A man’s life is in danger even in port this wagon, Sc ow kettles, mess chests coffee pots and horse barrels are always flying about.

This afternoon the Dr. and Ensign came up forward among the jacks and started a phonograph. We all listen and were very much pleased I tell you there’s only a few officers in this Navy who would think of doing anything like that.

6:30 p.m. just finished a chicken. The  wardroom officers had  some chow brought off shore and some of us decided to have some two I bought two chickens and some firemen bought a few ducks. They put there’s in the fire but I beat them I roasted mine in a sterilizer and this evening another fellow and myself had a chicken and waffles suffer minus the waffles. We had: salt horse for desert and some chocolate.

October 30, the boys had a ball last night I was there but didn’t dance I don’t care for dancing, some people can dance all evening. It might be great fun but I’d much rather capsize a part of paint down the Chinamans kneck. I used to dance on the Kentucky to look down from the superstructure on the crowd of dancers reminds a fellow of two men trying to hop away from each other but both holding fast. When you can’t hear the music and see them, they appear like so many jumping jacks.

The New Orleans is expected tomorrow. We will not leave until she arrives from here we go to a few forgotten parts of China and then home, (December 9 year we are home again will have liberty tomorrow. Your loving son Paul USS Helena Shang

By the way, it was in Washington paper that the Helena and the Wilmington were ordered to San Francisco. The captain knows nothing about either of them going. I hope she does go a leader go with her were be transferred, and I prefer the latter event to go home in this.

Don’t like the ship for some reason or other and I haven’t felt at home for comparable since I came aboard

December 1, this morning it’s no. There was half a gale of wind blowing and it sent the snow passed in a blinding storm. Was not very cold, not half so cold as it has been we moved out to the Lee of the lighthouse again morning. This is the first snow I’ve seen since  February 1900. It made me feel good and I went on deck and listened to the howling of the wind and watched the driving snow. I felt as though I’d like to the back home, sitting on the mountain side near Ashland, alongside of a big wood fire, watching a snowstorm. A snowstorm in the mountains, I think the prettiest thing I ever saw.

Well, can’t live in the mountains all your life, I’m satisfied to follow the scene is a great old life very hard sometimes, and very easy at others on the whole I like a great deal better than lying around the one place on land for five years.

December 3, and English merchant steamer was a fire this morning and we sent a few quotes loaded with jacks to help save them.

December 7, you have heard of salty sailors no doubt the ship beats them all, our tea and coffee the past few days and all the cooking has been done with saltwater

December 8 today we had fresh water for cooking again. The other was some shore water from chief food. Two men are sick with college some cause or other probably from the water. We are bound direct for Shanghai.

 

December 9, here we are home again will have liberty tomorrow.

Your loving son Paul